The organic electronic device refers to a device which requires charge exchange between an electrode and an organic material using holes and electrons. The organic electronic device can be largely classified into two types according to its operation principle as follows. One type is an electronic device having a configuration in which an exciton is formed in an organic material layer by photons flown from an external light source into the device and the exciton is separated into an electron and a hole, the formed electron and hole are transported to a different electrode, respectively and used as a current source (voltage source), and the other type is an electronic device having a configuration in which a hole and/or electron are/is injected into an organic material semiconductor forming an interface with an electrode by applying a voltage or current to two or more electrodes to allow the device to operate by means of the injected electron and hole.
Examples of the organic electronic device include an organic light emitting device, an organic solar cell, an organic photoconductor (OPC), and an organic transistor, which all require a hole injecting or hole transporting material, an electron injecting or electron transporting material, or a light emitting material for driving the device.
Hereinafter, the organic light emitting device will be mainly and specifically described, but in the above-mentioned organic electronic devices, the hole injecting or hole transporting material, the electron injecting or electron transporting material, or the light emitting material injection functions according to a similar principle.
In general, the term “organic light emitting phenomenon” refers to a phenomenon in which electric energy is converted to light energy by means of an organic material. The organic light emitting device using the organic light emitting phenomenon has a structure usually comprising an anode, a cathode and an organic material layer interposed therebetween. Herein, the organic material layer may be mostly formed in a multilayer structure comprising layers of different materials, for example, a hole injecting layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer, an electron injecting layer and the like, in order to improve efficiency and stability of the organic light emitting device. In the organic light emitting device having such a structure, when a voltage is applied between two electrodes, holes from the anode and electrons from a cathode are injected into the organic material layer, the holes and the electrons injected are combined together to form excitons. Further, when the excitons drop to a ground state, lights are emitted. Such the organic light emitting device is known to have characteristics such as self-luminescence, high brightness, high efficiency, low drive voltage, wide viewing angle, high contrast, and high-speed response.
The materials used for the organic material layer of the organic light emitting device can be classified into a light emitting material and a charge transporting material, for example, a hole injecting material, a hole transporting material, an electron transporting material, and an electron injecting material, according to their functions. The light emitting material can be classified into a high molecular weight type and a low molecular weight type, according to their molecular weight, and divided into a fluorescent material from singlet excited states and a phosphorescent material from triplet excited states according to their light emitting mechanism. Further, the light emitting material can be classified into a blue, green, or red light emitting material and a yellow or orange light emitting material required for giving more natural color, according to a light emitting color.
On the other hand, an efficiency of a device is lowered owing to maximum luminescence wavelength moved to a longer wavelength due to the interaction between the molecules, the deterioration of color purity and the reduction in light emitting efficiency when only one material is used for the light emitting material, and therefore a host/dopant system can be used as the light emitting material for the purpose of enhancing the color purity and the light emitting efficiency through energy transfer. It is based on the principle that if a small amount of a dopant having a smaller energy band gap than a host which forms a light emitting layer, excitons which are generated in the light emitting layer are transported to the dopant, thus emitting a light having a high efficiency. Here, since the wavelength of the host is moved according to the wavelength of the dopant, a light having a desired wavelength can be obtained according the kind of the dopant.
In order to allow the organic light emitting device to fully exhibit the above-mentioned excellent characteristics, a material constituting the organic material layer in the device, for example, a hole injecting material, a hole transporting material, a light emitting material, an electron transporting material, and an electron injecting material should be essentially composed of a stable and efficient material. However, the development of a stable and efficient organic material layer material for the organic light emitting device has not yet been fully realized. Accordingly, the development of new materials is continuously desired. The development of such a material is equally required to the above-mentioned other organic electronic devices.